Open Book Festival returns for 2022

Faye Kabali Kagwa, Alistair Mackay, Finuala Dowling, Relebone eAfrika and Toni Stuart will all be at The Open Book Festival

Participants and authors will finally have the chance to sit in the same room again at the more compact Festival, which will take place on 26 and 27 March at Bertha House in Mowbray.

Seating will be strictly limited due to Covid-19 protocols and the capacity of the venue, so early booking is more important than ever.

Open Book Festival is a South African literature festival that has twice been shortlisted for the London Book Fair Excellence Awards. Nearly 10,000 people attended the most recent annual event, which ran for nine years, up to 2019. During the past two years, Open Book Festival’s podcast series has kept the engaging conversations going, while highlighting some of the incredible books that have been published.

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“Our digital engagements have provided a good platform to talk about the compelling books South African authors have continued to write, but nothing can beat the experience of an in-person event,” says Open Book Festival organiser Vasti Calitz. “We are delighted to be hosting our first live, post-pandemic Festival. With the devastating impact that Covid-19 has had on the creative sector, we have decided to present an all-South African lineup for this event.”

“In other good news, look out for our events throughout the year, including another Festival in September. There's a lot to look forward to and we expect the year to be a thrilling one,” says Calitz.

Authors, activists, journalists, academics and poets come together to debate topics that shape and inform us. Festival-goers can look forward to discussions ranging from loss, land and city landscapes to courage, capitalism and the power of memory.

Participants at the 2022 Open Book Festival include: Sindiswa Busuku, Azille Coetzee, C. A. Davids, Finuala Dowling, Andries du Toit, Relebone Rirhandzu eAfrika, Shana Fife, vangile gantsho, Pumla Gqola, Tapiwa Guzha, Robert Hamblin, Imran Hamdulay, Ingrid Jones, Joanne Joseph, Faye Kabali-Kagwa, Sara-Jayne King, Bongani Kona, Kelly-Eve Koopman, Aoife Lennon-Ritchie, Alistair Mackay, Jessica Mbangeni, Bridget McNulty, Thenjiwe Mswane, Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, Sue Nyathi, Julie Nxadi, Edgar Pieterse, Mpho Raboeane, Katlego Ramantsima, Nancy Richards, Quaz Roodt, Keely Shinners, Kelly Smith, Toni Giselle Stuart, Sarah Summers, Jen Thorpe, Hedley Twidle and Joy Watson.

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Open Book Festival will take place on 26 and 27 March at Bertha House in Mowbray - situated at 67, 69 Main Road, Mowbray, Cape Town,

Tickets cost R50 per session.

Event Passes are also available:
Get five tickets for the price of four at R200
Get 10 tickets for the price of eight at R400

Bookings can be made here.

The programme

The programme (excluding the workshops during the week) includes:

26 March

• 10.00am -11.30am: Getting Real about Land (with Plaas); Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, Mpho Raboeana and Andries du Toit speak to Katlego Ramantsima about the real politics of land.
• 12pm – 1pm: A Map of Loss; Relebone Rirhandzu eAfrika, Bongani Kona and Bridget McNulty speak to Joy Watson about how we survive
• 2pm – 3pm: Present Dystopia; Kelly-Eve Koopman, Alistair Mackay and Keely Shinners speak to Edgar Pieterse about imagining a landscape of the future on that of the present.
• 4pm – 5pm: Unmaking Fear; Shana Fife, Pumla Gqola and Sue Nyathi speak to Sara-Jayne King about everyday acts of courage and resistance against the patriarchy.
• 5pm - 7pm: Our Move Next; Speculative Fiction E- anthology launch. The launch event for this exciting open-source anthology features music, artwork and readings from selected pieces by young South African performers.
• 6pm – 7pm: Politics of Memory; CA Davids, Joanne Joseph and Bongani Kona speak to Sindiswa Busuku about what we choose to remember and why.

27 March

• 10am – 11am: The Pressure to Produce; Relebone Rirhandzu eAfrika, Tapiwa Guzha and Jen Thorpe explore the effect of capitalism on creativity and mental health in the company of Faye Kabali-Kagwa.
• 12pm – 1pm: Queering Family; Robert Hamblin, Thenjiwe Mswane and Keely Shinners explore what family can mean in the company of Kelly Smith.
• 2pm – 3pm: Playing Along; Azille Coetzee, Pumla Gqola and Joy Watson speak to Ingrid Jones about the roles women must play in order to survive.
• 4pm – 5pm: The Architecture of Words; C.A. Davids, Finuala Dowling and Nancy Richards speak to Aoife Lennon-Ritchie about their writing processes
• 5.30pm – 7pm: A Pandemic. Pause. Poetry; vangile gantsho and Toni Giselle Stuart hold a conversation about surviving the pandemic through poetry, with Jessica Mbangeni, Julie Nxadi and Quaz Roodt. What this time teaches us, what we remember and how we move forward.